This invention relates generally to the field of manually operated tools, and more particularly to a tool for use by older persons, and those having difficulty in manipulating their fingers.
Button hook devices for use with boots and shoes are well known in the art. Such devices normally include a handle from which a relatively stiff wire extends, the wire having a free open end forming a generally circular hook which can be passed through a buttonhole to engage a button or other enlargement and guided through a corresponding buttonhole. While such devices are not without utility, they are not easy to use in the buttoning of garments upon a user because of excess length, and the inability of the hook to pass over buttons of relatively flat configuration to engage the threads interconnecting the button with the garment, or the shank of the button in the case of a shank button. Normally, the garment is of relatively limp cloth, rather than relatively stiff leather, and the button upon engagement will not remain in fixed position for easy engagement with the tool.
Briefly stated, the invention contemplates the provision of an improved tool of the type described in which the above described disadvantages have been eliminated or at least substantially ameliorated. To this end, the disclosed device comprises a molded or stamped generally planar tool of metal or synthetic resinous materials, one end of which forms a hook like opening in which the configuration is generally tapered toward that end, there being an entrance slot from the periphery of the device leading to the opening. In use, the threaded shank is passed through the slot to be engaged by the tapered end, such that the surrounding surface of the device may be engaged with the undersurface of the generally planar button. The tool then exerts a guiding action to pass the button through the corresponding buttonhole following which the device is disengaged.
In the case of very small buttons, the opening forming the hook may pass over the button during engagement. In the case of larger buttons, the hook end of the device is inserted in the buttonhole and is moved to directly engage the interconnecting threads or shank. In the alternative, the device may be also formed as a metallic stamping.